Concept Mapping/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim lights the candle on a birthday cupcake. He carries the cupcake on a small plate to Moby sitting at a table. Moby is wearing a birthday hat, and the room is decorated with banners and balloons. TIM: Happy birthday, buddy ol' pal. He sets the cupcake in front of Moby, who claps his hands in delight. TIM: Go ahead. Blow it out. Moby places his face close to the candle and tries unsuccessfully to blow out the candle. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Oh, right. No lungs. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, what is concept mapping, and what can I use it for? Thanks, Martin. Well, lots of things, Martin. A concept map is a tool for displaying your understanding of a topic. An image shows a concept map. At its top is the boxed title "Solar System." Beneath that title are planet names in a horizontal row of boxes. Beneath that layer are more boxes with facts about the planets. Lines between boxes link related names, concepts, and information. TIM: You can personalize your maps with images and all kinds of creative layouts. That makes them fun to do and useful for all kinds of learning. An image shows a colorfully illustrated enhancement of the "Solar System" concept map. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, pretty much anything. Taking notes, doing research, brainstorming ideas, even planning out projects. For instance, we could, um, the candle! Tim and Moby stand at either side of the birthday cupcake. Both of them lean in and examine the burning candle closely. TIM: Have you ever wondered what keeps a flame burning? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, we can use a concept map to guide us toward the answer. Tim and Moby go to a computer that is displaying a blank page on the screen. TIM: Let's start with our focus question to help us stay on track. Tim keys the text, "What keeps a flame burning?" onto the page. TIM: Next, we'll come up with our main idea. I'd say in this case, it's fire. Tim drags and drops a text box onto the page. Then he types the word "fire" into the text box. TIM: I like to use a picture or a drawing to get my mind working. Tim drags and drops a picture of a lit candle to a place just above the "fire" text box. TIM: Now we can brainstorm related ideas. What do we know, or think we know, about fire? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right. A flame is hot, and it creates smoke. Tim creates text boxes containing the words "hot" and "smoke." TIM: It's usually colored orange, yellow, and sometimes a bit of blue. Wood, gasoline, and candle wax all make good fuel for a fire. Fire needs oxygen, too. Tim creates additional text boxes containing all of the thoughts and ideas he has come up with. TIM: Now, besides breath, what are some enemies of fire? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yep. Wind and water work. Tim adds text boxes reading "wind" and "water." TIM: Now that we have some starting concepts, we can start linking them together. It's good practice to put broad concepts, like fuel and color, closer to the main idea than specific ones, like wood and yellow. Tim arranges the text boxes as he describes. TIM: So fire needs fuel, and these are some types. Tim creates lines linking the word "fire" to the word "fuel" and the word "fuel" to the words "wood," "gasoline," and "wax." TIM: Make sure to label your connections, even if it's just a single word. Tim puts the word "needs" on the line between "fire" and "fuel" to illustrate his point. TIM: Since this relationship has a direction to it, let's make it an arrow. Tim turns the line between "fire" and "fuel" into an arrow, with the arrow's point touching the "fuel" text box. TIM: The fuel types we can leave as lines, since it doesn't really matter which way you read it. And I'll give them a different shape to show that they're examples of a broader idea. Images and colors can add even more context to your map, making it easier to read. Tim changes the shape of some of the text boxes and adds colors and images to others. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Nope, these are just my personal choices. Use whatever makes sense to you. Let's take care of the rest of these. An image shows Tim's completed concept map. It contains shapes, lines, arrows, colors, and images that Tim referenced earlier. TIM: Now we have a snapshot of our understanding of the topic. And I'm starting to see where our gaps are. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Like, what is fire made of, and just how hot can a candle's flame get? Tim adds text boxes to include these concepts. TIM: These unknown concepts will help guide my research. And if I find anything unexpected, I can still include it. Tim looks at an article entitled "Fire" online. One subhead of the article is "Physical Properties." Tim drags information from the article onto his concept map. TIM: Fitting all this info into my map will help me understand and retain it. Instead of trying to memorize a list of new ideas, I'll be figuring out how they link up with what I already know. Tim's concept map forms a backdrop behind him as he speaks. TIM: In other words, I'll be converting information into knowledge. Charts entitled "Information" and "Knowledge" become Tim's backdrop. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Now that we've got a good-sized map, the real fun comes in, discovering cross-links. These are connections between concepts in different areas of the map, like that the colors of a flame come from a chemical reaction. And that smoke is made of solids from the fuel. Tim's concept map reappears. He creates new links between his text boxes as he describes them. TIM: Discoveries like these enhance and deepen our understanding of the topic. Moby points at the concept map. MOBY: Beep. TIM: It may look a bit disorganized, but it actually mimics how our brains store information. That's why you might hear these called mind maps or thought webs. They're visual models for how we think. An illustration represents how a concept map mimics the human mind's methods of associating and storing thoughts. TIM: As you learn more, you can keep adding to the edges, fitting your main idea into broader areas. Like, where does firelight fall on the light spectrum? Tim adds this concept to the concept map and links it to the text box, "color." TIM: And since heat's a form of energy, how does fire fit into that picture? Tim creates a text box reading "energy" and links it to the text box reading "heat." TIM: Your map can also help you investigate more specific questions, like "Why does blowing on the candle put it out?" MOBY: Beep. Tim walks over to Moby, who is trying again to blow out the candle on his birthday cupcake. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Heh. Moby frowns, then extends one of his arms. His hand opens and a high-speed fan emerges and begins spinning. The air blows the candle and icing off of the cupcake. MOBY: Beep. Tim sighs. The icing and candle have all blown into his face. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts